US seeks Sunni help to fight IS

Washington: President Barack Obama says he has no strategy yet to launch a broader attack against Islamic State fighters in Iraq and Syria.

"I don't want to put the cart before the horse," the President said at the White House on Thursday afternoon before heading into a meeting with his National Security Council. "We don't have a strategy yet."

Mr Obama stuck to the White House's position that at present its military focus was on protecting United States personnel and launching strikes with a humanitarian focus against IS fighters (also known as ISIL or ISIS fighters).

US President Barack Obama answers questions in the White House Press Briefing Room ahead of a meeting with his national security council in Washington. Photo: Reuters

"Where we see an opportunity that allows us, with very modest risk, to help the humanitarian situation there, as we did in Sinjar Mountain, we will take those opportunities after having consulted with Congress," he said.

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"But our core priority right now is just to make sure that our folks are safe and to do an effective assessment of Iraqi and Kurdish capabilities."

Mr Obama stressed the capability of US military power as well as the limits of a lasting political solution it could achieve.

US President Barack Obama addresses reporters at the White House. Photo: Reuters

"As I've said before – I think I said it in the previous press conference – our military is the best in the world," he said. "We – we can rout ISIS on the ground and keep a lid on things temporarily. But then as soon as we leave, the same problems come back again."

He said broader strikes against IS could only be effective when they were supported by a unified Iraqi government that had won the trust of Sunni groups within and outside the nation.

"This should be a wake-up call to Sunni, to Shia, to everybody, that a group like ISIS is beyond the pale, that they have no vision or ideology beyond violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocent people," Mr Obama said. "And as a consequence, we've got to all join together, even if we have differences on a range of political issues, to make sure that they're all rooted out."

But he said he had directed Secretary of Defence Chuck Hagel and the Joint Chiefs of Staff to develop a set of "options" for a broader attack, should those local conditions be created. Earlier this week it was reported that in such circumstances Australia could be one of the US allies asked to contribute to broader attacks.

Speaking on the crisis in Ukraine Mr Obama declared Russia to be responsible for the ongoing and increasing violence.

"The violence is encouraged by Russia, the separatists are trained by Russia, they are armed by Russia, they are funded by Russia," Mr Obama said.

He said he had just spoken with the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, who agreed with the his assessment. But he did not go as far as referring to the action as an "invasion".

He said new images of Russian columns of troops, artillery and armoured vehicles within the Ukraine made the action plain for the world to see. He said US and European sanctions in response to earlier Russian aggression had already had a significant impact on the Russian economy.

He said he would be meeting with America's NATO allies next week in Wales, and noted that while Ukraine was not a NATO member, other nearby states were, and that he took the US responsibilities to help protect NATO allies very seriously.